Oops

NEW YORK – In response to an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act request, the Defense Department disclosed to the ACLU a document that contains criteria for holding detainees at the Bagram detention center in Afghanistan. Now, the government contends the document is properly classified and is asking a federal court to order its return.

The ACLU says the document should never have been classified and should be made public under the Freedom of Information Act. It contains the criteria for labeling detainees an "enduring security threat," which results in prolonged and possibly indefinite detention.

According to the ACLU they initially offered to let the government declassify the document once they realized what they had, but the government refused. The information itself also doesn't seem particularly sensitive, more a result of the government's instinct for classifying information than something that genuinely needs to be kept under wraps for security reasons.

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About the Author

Adam Serwer is a writing fellow at The American Prospect and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He also blogs at Jack and Jill Politics and has written for The Village Voice, The Washington Post, The Root, and the Daily News. Follow @adamserwer